Trucks carry a bulk of the goods within the United States. Driver's have a difficult lifestyle in which they spend much of their time within the cab and sleeper of their over the road tractor trailers. The truck becomes their home away from home. The sizing constraints of the sleeper berth are a well-known hurdle to truck manufactures. One major challenge is to enhance the meal experience in the truck so that it feels more like home.
The consumer market is dynamic and evolving and that the landscape of the entire country is far from stagnant. Factors including new awareness in Homeland Security and concerns, both personal and communal, about health and the environment are changing the expectations and buying habits of consumers around the country. Some of the new concerns about safety have even begun to change the face of the trucking industry, changing some rules and regulations which were set decades ago. Drivers must adhere to different hours on the road and face new and more restrictive rules about engine idling even when the temperatures drop below freezing. Some of the global and industry level factors which the inventors consider key in the pursuit of our opportunity to improve the meal experience include the following:                Increasing attention to road safety including hours of service regulation        Increasing concern over personal health and diet        Increasing concern about the environment        National average driver turnover rate of 116%        High costs to hire and train drivers        Record high fuel costs        Increased electrification of truck stops        Increasing availability of alternative electricity sources to drivers        
To achieve an improved meal experience within the sleeper berth of a long-haul vehicle, the inventors considered both the business related aspects of the fleet owners as well as the lifestyle and experience oriented expectations and dreams of the actual drivers. These factors revealed that the two different stakeholders share common issues with tangible solutions that sometimes can come into conflict. For example, a fleet owner wishes to reduce idling and save more money in operations. Installing an alternative power unit (APU) for a driver would help satisfy that goal but requires a significant upfront investment that conflicts with the original cost saving goal. This integrated kitchen unit circumvents these issues by improving the current experience within the sleeper at a minimal cost. The objective was to take all these trends into consideration and complete the product design in a manner that recognizes certain conflicts among key stakeholders and improves both the bottom line for the fleet owners, as well as the long-haul driving experience that truck drivers have can come to expect from a truck original equipment manufacturer.